Saturday, November 15, 2014

Yesterday, Newsround asked kids what they're you doing for Children in Need. So it was a good opportunity to remind some of the people in charge of CBBC that I'm still waiting to hear back what they, themselves, are doing.

I'd previously asked Sue Nott, whether homophobia in other countries might affect the way British children's programmes are made. Polish TV, for example, seemed unhappy that Benny had come out as gay at the end of series 2 of Wizards vs Aliens. Benny, of course, returned to America at the end of the second story in the series 3, and it's not clear if we'll ever get to see him in romantic situations akin to the hetero relationships Tom has with girlfriends such as Chloe and Katie.

I've also been waiting to hear back from Kez Margrie, executive producer of the My Life: I Am Leo documentary. I mentioned that, although the My Life series has covered trans and gender-nonconformity, it has yet to deal with kids who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. I've asked Kez if that is likely to change.

Anti-Bullying Week starts on Monday, but CBBC got in early with this morning's (Saturday's) Friday Download anti-bullying edition with all sorts of advice on the subject. The show, introduced by three members of One Direction, included this -

Shannon: CBBC is putting on a few different programmes this week that they hope will help. Bullying can take several different forms; one of the most common is name-calling. So in next week's episode of Our School the students discuss how important it is to use the word 'gay' in the right way.

A short clip from next Wednesday's Our School was played in which Mr Glendenning from Conyers School asked his class if they'd ever been called names - everyone in the class put up their hands. He asked the class to promise never to use the term 'gay' in a derogatory sense. The Friday Download anti-bullying Special also included a clip from the previously mentioned My Life: I Am Leo documentary, which goes out this Monday, 17th November.

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